Two words that don't go together

A pancake house near me has "clam pancakes" on the menu. I have never had the courage to order it, even though I'm pretty sure clams don't make me hurl. (I have a fish/seafood allergy the extent of which is uncertain.) But I confess to a lingering morbid curiosity. Clam... pancakes. Clam. Pancakes. Those two words just don't seem to go together in my brain.

Another pair that took me a while to accept was the phrase "ground failure". Obviously they were talking about earthquakes, but not just shaking. I couldn't quite imagine what a "failure" of what you stand on would be. "Including liquefaction," the text continued. Ground... failure. Ground. Failure. I couldn't make that connection for the longest time.

Flying!

Rob and I are going to take the Warrior up today at lunch!

I should be ecstatic, but I'm terrified. Probably because a) I really ought to be doing a whole lot of other things during this time, like work and do Christmas shopping and find a new house insurance company, and b) I haven't flown in a LONG time and I am gonna be one sucky pilot.

We shall see.

I needn't have worried

...the battery's dead.

That's what we get for not flying it for two months.

Ah the joy of long build times

I'm stuck on level 23. I need a hint. :-(

(Not LOTS of hints though. At least I hope I won't need lots.)

[edit years later: new link.]

HAHAHAHA it works!

No, not level 23, but the feature I've been trying to implement in the OS at work. Gawd, the stupid bugs I have found. (Okay, only one stupid bug, but it was REALLY stupid, and it required a good couple of hours of coding to make things work the RIGHT way.)

Yeesh. Maybe my IQ drops dangerously low without caffeine. They should put warning labels on fizzy Calistoga-water. WARNING: This is not a caffeinated beverage. Drinking this beverage has no measurable immediate effects on alertness. I mean honestly, what if I were in some dangerous situation where I really had to be awake, and I got badly hurt because I'd been drinking Calistoga-water instead of a real drink? There oughtta be a law.

Anyhow, despite the dangerous trap of wimpy beverages, the code seems to be working. I'm pleased and relieved! This gives me some time to integrate before leaving for the holidaze.